Years Later
by Valledorthedragon
Summary: Four little children running through the woods. A beast is chasing them but is it as it seems? Cute little fanfic about changing times and looking back. Okay this summary isn't all that good but trust me its really adorable:-) (the big four oneshot)


Years Later - The Big Four Oneshot

**Authors note: Hey guys so as promised Ive posted this adorable little story today^^ I hope you all enjoy it and please leave a review letting me know what you think it means so much:-) oh and last thing I've got a few more oneshots but which one would you like next ill give you the titles- there's "eternal darkness" "never alone again" "dancing into the night" and "footprints in the snow" which is more of a poemy type thing. So please let me know which you want next^^ thanks for reading ill leave you to the story now:-D**

**Ps if youre curious or dont get something about this fanfic just ask ^^ **

The silence in the forest was shattered, by the sound of heavy footsteps breaking the untouched mounds of snow. Deep, quick breathing accompanied it.

A young boy- no more than six- was running through the pines at breakneck speed, as though his very life depended on it... and he wasn't the only one. Three more kids followed his footsteps, also breathing heavily. A little girl with long, honey blond hair. Another boy, this time with short, tightly curled red locks; and a second girl with similar, ginger hair, but straight and scruffy.

Now and then, they glanced back fearfully. It was close. They had to keep going- they had to outrun it. Not five seconds after the first boy's boots broke the snow, the footprints were broken by the pursuing beast. Four huge, clawed paws leaving their mark, as it pursued its prey.

An eerie howl split the air, and a burst of fear driven speed moved the kid's legs even faster. All of their breathes catching in their throats. One of them, the honey blond, was lagging behind the others slightly. Then she tripped. Landing face first in the snow.

The other three stopped, and looked back in horror. They dashed back to pick her up, but they were too late. The great, white beast pounced out of the trees.

A stone cold wolf. Unnaturally big, and silver white in colour, it had a paw placed on the little girl's chest. She whined, terrified. Her friends frozen in fear. The wolf raised its lip in a threatening snarl, and then-  
"Gotcha!" The three kids screamed, as a pair of cold hands landed on their shoulders.

Bright laughter followed it, as a white haired teen flew over their heads, to land a few steps away. The wolf backed up immediately, and sat on its hind legs. Happy with its role it had played, and wagging its tail happily, making a half snow angel on the ground.

The kids all broke into cheerful giggles. They loved these games- the ones in the forest were the best, and the ones with fake action were awesome! The redhead lad whooped, and threw his hands up. His sister pushed him, playfully. The brown haired grinned, as he watched them; then, he stumbled forwards as, quite suddenly, a big ball of white hit him on the back.

He turned, unsurprised to see their snow headed playmate wearing a devilish smile, as he bounced another one in his hand. He bent down to pick up some ammo of his own, as he heard the two reds laugh as they caught on to what was going on. The blond girl jumping up and down in excitement, as she squealed happily.

Both the gingers got a snowball to the rear before they even managed to scoop up any of the white fluff.  
"Hey! No fair!" The girl yelled, indignantly, but she was laughing all the same. He didn't notice her brother making a ball of ice behind her back, but not for the white haired trickster. The moment his sister stood, he loosed his weapon at her, drawing a yelp of shock as he cheered and ran away- only to be hit in the arm by the one person you should always keep an eye on in a snowball fight.

The honey girl threw a snowball of her own. Hitting the brunette, who chased her for it. She screamed happily, as her lure succeeded, until one of the twins got her. She stopped, staring, open mouthed and indignant, at them. Then threw another at her attacker. The other twin took advantage of the distraction, to hit his sister in the back again. while the brunette threw non stop snowballs at his main target. Both the siblings got hit with simultaneous snowballs. Who could that have been?

All throughout the fight, not a single one had touched the taller trickster- and the brown haired had tried. Resorting to every low trick he knew. The boy with the bright red, devil curls took it upon himself to change that.  
"Lets get 'em!" He yelled, rallying the others.

All four of them immediately took up the challenge, as they threw themselves at the skinny teen, who suddenly found himself swamped with kids.  
"Oh no, attacking losers!" He yelled, as he attempted to get away. The kids laughter intensified. He let out more feeble cries for mercy, but the children were merciless.

Lost in their fun, they didnt notice a jet black dragon walk into the clearing. Two riders on his back, and two other people walking beside him.

The blond woman smiled, as she chuckled softly. Remembering her own fond memories with the winter spirit. The brown haired man next to her bent down, grinning as he packed together a snowball. The red head, from the back of the dragon, called to him.  
"Don't break it up yet! I love seeing him overrun." She smirked, mischievously. The brunette laughed, dropping the snowball, and watching as his child hung from the spirit's hand, attempting to drag him down.  
"As I recall, you didn't watch. You were the one charging him." The man sat in front of the red reminded her, raising an eyebrow. She punched him, playfully. A gesture he just took- noting how he now accepted the punches, that he always used to hate.

Eventually, the brunette child finally succeeded in dragging the pale spirit down, and they pounced on him, much as the wolf had done. Said wolf just sat there and watched, as the kids jumped all over him.

He struggled a little more, before letting out a big dramatic final breath, and letting himself go limp.  
"...Jack?..." The red head lad said. "You're not dead." He giggled... A seconds silence... then.  
"No!" Jack jumped up, making all of them squeal and giggle. Rubbing their noses where he'd nipped them with frost, leaving them bright red like Rudolph's (and, actually, he'd seen the original).

The blond woman from in the trees stepped out, smiling.  
"Come on, kids. Time to go home." She told them. She recieved many good, long moans at this.  
"I don't wanna go home." The white haired complained. The kids and the woman giggled at this.  
"Come on, Rosie. Time for tea." She said, reaching out a hand for the honey girl. She was still pouting a little.  
"I made you that special homemade pie you loved." She tempted. The girl immediately brightened at this, and jumped up, taking her mothers hand, dutifully, in her own. "I don't suppose you want to come too?" She offered her old friend. "It was always your favourite too." She reminded him, tauntingly.  
"Naa, I'm good. Just had a buffet at North's." He declined.  
"But it's only the afternoon?" Her kid pointed out, confused.  
"Here it is not. At the North Pole it's not." He explained to her, grinning.

The young girl smiled, and gave him a quick cute peck on the cheek, he gave her a slightly chilly embrace in return, but his smile was warm. She attempted to share the kiss with the rest of the kids, but she only succeded with great effort- the other girl and brown haired weren't bothered, but the red head lad tried to shove her off (and rubbed his cheek with a sour expression on his face afterwards).

Satisfied with her goodbye, she began tugging on her mother's arm.  
"Come on mum! I want my pie!" She pleaded, sweetly. Jack snorted, softly. Forcibly reminded of his old sister, who had pulled on his arm like that once. The woman gave a quick kiss, like her daughter did, then started walking home with aid daughter in tow. The dragon started forwards, as the blonds departed.

"See ya Punz!" Jack called out. The woman smiled in recognition of her old nickname, as she turned and waved farewell, before disappearing into the trees.

Then, the black dragon made his approach. The remaining kids jumped up, laughing happily as they fussed over their pet.  
"Toothless!" The girl cried, stroking him in his favourite place- just behind the ears. The other two kids joined in, cooing over, and stroking the pampered dragon. The happy Night Fury flipped onto his back, and twitched a lazy leg as the loving continued. Luckily, his riders had got off before he toppled over.

The red head woman folded her arms at her old nemesis.  
"So, Mr Fancy Pants. Finally got it working, huh?" She grinned, nodding over to the wolf, which was sat obediently, watching the scene.  
"Yeah who'd of thought it would take so long to make one?" He said, flicking a hand to disperse the wolf into flakes on the wind.  
"Besides me, you mean." The man smirked.  
"Yep." The spirit confirmed, just as annoying as ever.

"Mom, are we getting pie for dinner too?" The little girl queried.  
"No, but if you don't hurry up, I'll get Toothless to eat it. Now, come on. The snow'll still be here tomorow." She said, nudging the dragon to get him to roll over.  
"The snow'll still be here all month, so long as I'm around." The teen muttered, only the man with half a leg heard him. He smiled at the white haired.

"The kids weren't too much trouble, were they?" He asked.  
"You kidding? With their mother?!" He joked, earning an elbow in response.  
"Seriously, though, they got nothing on the king of the naughty list." He said, smugly.  
"Half the time I think it's you that's having a bad influence on them." He told him.  
"And the other half, you just look at their mother." He smirked.  
"I didn't have to send Punzie to call the kids off, you know." He pointed out.  
"Awww, then why did you? We could have had a camp out." The icy boy moaned.  
"Oh yeah, with a campfire." The older man said, sarcastically, emphasizing the "fire" part. He didn't mind any of Jack's teasing. He'd learnt a long time ago that being irritating just came naturally to Frost, and he rather enjoyed the banter really.

"Oy, slowpoke! You coming, or are having Frost carry you back by the belt, as you scream like a little girl, again?" His female companion shouted down from the dragon. The two matching hair colour kids seated behind her. The man blushed.  
"I wasn't screaming like a girl." He protested, as he climbed onto his dragon.  
"Yeah. You're right. You were squealing." The immortal teen smirked.  
"I'll blast you." The aubern warned.  
"No you won't." He teased. The man just shook his head, and readied Toothless to take off.

"Hey Dad, can I drive?" The little, curly haired lad begged.  
"No, you can't drive a dragon." His father replied.  
"You can fly one, though." The woman pointed out, a wry smirk spreading across her face, as she watched the show.  
"Can I fly?" The boy asked.  
"No. You dont have wings." The dad replied, cleverly.  
"Jack doesn't have wings, and he flies." The straight haired, ginger girl added in.  
"Yeah, but he has a magic staff." The man explained. His kid thought for a moment.  
"I'll use his staff, then." He decided.  
"That's a good way to get a snowball to the face." The mother replied, knowing from experience.

The conversation was slowly growing quieter and quieter, as Toothless flew, leisurely, away. Their voices were lost on the wind.

The remaining young boy looked up at the remaining parent, sadly.  
"Do we have to go home now?" He pouted.  
"No. You go play for a bit." The kids face brightened, as he scampered off. The brunette's eyes met the immortal's, and the teen smiled, catching his meaning, and tapped his staff to the floor. A frosty wolf cub appeared on the ground. Bending its front legs to the floor, then running off as the child chased after it, giggling cheerfully.

The spirit and his first believer watched for a minute, side by side.  
"Seems like it was only yesterday, when it was you playing in the snow like that." The snow haired noticed. The brunette gave him a look, and he chuckled. "No, you're right, you ,still, play in the snow." He corrected himself.  
"Don't you forget it." He responded, looking at the wolf.  
"What do you mean "took so long"? You made a bunny the first time I saw you." He criticised.  
"Yeah, but I don't want the others getting grumpy about it. I save my animals for the Bennetts." They smiled at each other, the brunette sliding his hands into his warm pockets, while his childhood friend had no such problems.  
"Besides. Merida would've used them for target practise." He said.  
"Unless Toothless would have eaten them first." The Bennett continued.  
"And Punzie would have got out her frying pan at whoever destroyed it." The white haired finished.

The child they were half watching forgot to look where he was going, and hit against a branch, which deposited a heap of snow on top of him. The wolf baby came nosing him, to make sure he was okay. He laughed heartily, throwing his arms in the air and collapsing backwards to make a snow angel. Not caring that the majority of his head was now covered with snow, rather than hair.

The white hair on the, usually brown, head, reminded the older brunette of something.  
"Hey, remember the double prank we pulled in the twinning years?" He reminisced. The winter spirit grinned, as he recalled it.

The "twinning years" was what they called the few years in which Jamie (bar the hair and the eyes) had grown into an almost exact double of Jack. As a joke, Jack had covered his buddy's hair in white frost crystals, and put in a request with the yetis to make his blue hoodie and trousers in a smaller size, and Jamie had made a staff from newspaper to match.

Over the course of the next few days, the two freaked the blond, aubern, redhead and dragon out with their double act. From a distance, Jamie had made a pretty convincing Frost... until Merida decided she'd had enough, and threw a snowball at the nearest teen at the time- and she didn't get the immortal one.

"You were complaining about that bruise for months!" The spirit laughed.  
"I never knew she could hit so hard." The man marvelled, semi-consciously rolling his shoulder, as he remembered the incident.  
"You ain't seen nothing. Have a massive, furry yeti throw a snowball the size of your head at you- that hurts." He contradicted.  
"Ah, no thanks." The brunette declined.

He stayed there for a little longer, thinking and talking about the years that had faded away... and times that been and passed. Eventually, though, the brunette looked up at the slightly darkening sky.

It was the middle of winter, so it always got dark early, but he didn't want to have to travel home in darkness.  
"Manny's gonna be up soon." He said. "I better get back... Jake! Come on. Home time!" He told the boy. The kid sat up from the snowy floor, with the cub sat next to him.  
"Awwww." He moaned, looking to the teenager for support, giving him the sappy eyes. The immortal grinned.  
"Tell you what? You be good, and go home, like your dad's telling you... and tomorrow... we can go sledding. How's that?" He suggested.  
"Yeah!" The kid exclaimed, and started running off.

"How do you do that?" The brown eyed asked his friend.  
"Three words. Centuries. Of. Practise." The brunette chuckled at that.  
"You know, I never could decide if you're the uncle, or the grandad, or the godfather, or what?" He speculated.  
"Come one Dad!" The distant child urged.

The teen hefted his staff on his shoulder, grinning as he replied.  
"Aw, come on Jamie, you should know this... I'm the Guardian." His first believer smiled, for a second becoming the ten year old boy, who had said farewell to his Guardian friend on a frozen lake, all those years ago... and trudged off through the snow.

The forever young teen turned away.

"Jack!" He heard the call, and it was exactly as it had been on that magical night- the young, brown haired boy wrapping his arms round this waist they he could barely reach... and his Guardian bending down to curl an arm around him too.

He let go, and the kid trotted off. Back to his father, who held out a hand for him. The grown adult raising his only free, gloved hand in farewell... his Guardian raised one in reply.

As they vanished, the immortal sighed, still grinning. Yeah, times had changed... but they hadn't. As far as he was concerned, he'd just waved off eight kids. Four of them were just a bit taller, that's all.

He aimlessly wandered in a random direction, swinging his staff out to one side to dust nearby trees with their winter coatings. Then, suddenly, he took stock of where he was, and realised... he recognised this place. He'd arrived here completely by chance- the kids leading the chase deep into the woods- but no doubt about it... This was the same place with that they'd...

He gripped his staff, and let the wind carry I'm a few paces, to a tree which was almost as old as he was. He walked the last few steps up to the trunk.

A soft smile graced his face as he saw it. His eyes wandering over the grooves that had been left there twenty five years ago. Forever capturing the moment of the five friends in their youth.

The light, delicate lines of a girl who didn't want to hurt the tree any more than she had to.

The jaunty, curving letters of the practised carver who had no such inhibitions.

The simple, straight lines of a boy, cut into by a few, long scratches where the Night Fury had left his mark... and finally, the not too fancy but steady carves of the kid who'd taken careful time with his.

The winter spirit smiled, as he gently ran his fingers along the contours of each. Remembering the laughter and smiles of that day, as he found one growing on his own face.

He missed the boy with the gap in his teeth, the redhead who stuck her tongue out at him, the twiggy kid with the sarcasm and attitude to make up for it, and the blond who squealed excitably at every little thing.

So much time had passed. So much had changed. Yet, still, despite everything- despite having grown, and been told to move on from the fantasies of childhood... still they believed.

He smiled. The fresh, young faces of the kids (now grown, and looking after their own kids) lingering in his mind.

With one last look, he turned and walked away from the tree of memories. The end of his staff catching the bark as he did so.

He took off, and flew with the wind... as a soft crackled filled the air of the clearing, and the missing set of initials re-engraved themselves there in glittered white frost...

...so that the forest would forever remember:

RC, MD, HHH, /, JB and JF.


End file.
